Review: Die Hard 4.0

Is 4th time the charm? It would seem that way since all the “3’s” seem to be terrible, and not just this year but as you look back at movie history. So, we had no intention of actually seeing another “Die Hard” – but good word of mouth from the U.S. tempted us to check it out and it was all that it should have been and more – yes, believe it or not!

Please do remember to check your brains in at the popcorn stand before entering, but for an exciting, explosive and funny summer action-entertainment flick everyone can enjoy, Die Hard 4.0 delivers it and more. Bruce Willis’ John McClane is like The Terminator from Jersey. He just doesn’t stop, and he’ll call you ‘jerkwad’ repeatedly. The rest of the cast were great, even the non-Hans Gruber, Euro-Trash villain – but then again if you’ve seen Go you know that Timothy Olyphant can be one sadistic bastard.

Even Maggie Q gets a memorable part, actually kicking the crap out of Bruce in a great sequence in the middle of the film. This part will definitely bring her more fans and more roles in the US. Great nerdcord role for Kevin Smith and even though he always plays a similar character Justin Long as the good guy hacker that helps McClane is just fun and brings it competing with Samuel L. Jackson as the better sidekick.

And for an action movie, the story and bad guy motivation makes sense in this post 9-11 America. DH4.0 is based on this article from Wired magazine that we urge you to read and isnt a spoiler for the movie but an interesting origin for the film. The first one was about terrorists taking over a building, the second about an airport, the third a city so the fourth one must be terrorists taking over the country. What’s next? The planet?

So while he couldn’t complete his profound catchphrase “Yippe-Kay-Yay-Mother…,” director Len Wiseman really pulled a rabbit out of his hat with this one and I can only imagine we’ll see another go before Bruce pushes 60. If Harrison can do it, why not Bruce.

UPDATE: I like visual effects that are invisible to the eye, so you can’t tell what is real and what is not creating a better illusion for what you are watching and thus being more drawn into the story. You know that the Silver Surfer is a CG character – but in Die Hard 4.0 you can’t tell what is real and what is CGI. Read this article and be amazed at just how much CGI is actually in the movie and what you thought was CGI was in fact real.